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Are You Prepared for the Solar Eclipse on August 21?

This has become quite the anticipated event! The must see of the year! And to be honest, nothing makes me giddier as a homeschool mom than to be able to witness something like this! What an educational opportunity! It works out perfectly that we are doing Apologia Astronomy this year anyway (picked before I even knew about the eclipse – it was G’s request for science this year. And Chapter 2 is on the sun! So it plays right in to our schedule!)

Solar Eclipse Viewing Tips:

Tip #1 – Know what a solar eclipse is.

As seen from the Earth, a solar eclipse is a type of eclipse that occurs when the Moon passes between the Sun and Earth, and the Moon fully or partially blocks (“occults”) the Sun. This can happen only at new moon when the Sun and the Moon are in conjunction as seen from Earth in an alignment referred to as syzygy. In a total eclipse, the disk of the Sun is fully obscured by the Moon. In partial and annular eclipses, only part of the Sun is obscured.

Tip #2 – Know when to look based on where you are located!

Space.com has a great guide to the solar eclipse so you can look up where the best viewing spots are, when you need to be watching and what you can expect to see (not every where in the US will be able to see the total eclipse, but a partial eclipse is great too!)

Tip #3 – Be Prepared! Safety first!

The most important thing to note about the solar eclipse is that you MUST have eclipse viewing glasses to safely view any portion of the eclipse. (Except when totality occurs if you are in the totality zone. Then you can take them off until totality is over.)

There are several ways to make a pinhole viewer for looking at the sun that can be used during the eclipse. It’s actually one of the activities in Apologia Astronomy and we just made one this week. We’ll still use out eclipse glasses during the eclipse but if a pinhole viewer is all you have, it’s a good option!

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